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EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Evansville sophomore third baseman Cody Fick’s two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday capped a wild late-inning rally by the Purple Aces’ baseball team, as UE posted a 12-11 walk-off victory over the visiting University of Northern Iowa Panthers at Charles H. Braun Stadium in Evansville.
After UNI closer Shuhei Fujiya (0-3) opened the ninth inning with back-to-back outs, senior outfielder Jim Viscomi laced a solid single up the middle to begin the rally. After Viscomi swiped second base, junior outfielder Alex Acheson drove him home with a single to left field to move UE to within one run, 11-10. Sophomore designated hitter Shawn Kuester would then work a five-pitch walk to put the winning run on base, before Fick blasted a 1-0 fastball from Fujiya to the wall in left-center field for his second walk-off hit of the year.
“This is a great win for our team,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “We got down early, but guys never gave up and kept battling, and we had some great at-bats there in the ninth inning to put Cody into the position to win the game for us.
“It wasn’t just the at-bats in the ninth inning which won this game though. We had different guys, both in the line-up and on the mound, step up today and come through when we needed them to to keep us in this game, after we got down early and then again late in the seventh. It was good to see this team learn what it takes to win a game like this today, and hopefully, we will be able to build on this victory in the future.”
Northern Iowa jumped to an early 5-0 lead in the first three innings, before the Purple Aces stormed back with three runs in the fifth inning on RBI doubles by Acheson and senior shortstop Andy Smith, and an RBI triple by Kuester to trim the deficit to 5-3. The Purple Aces would then take advantage of two UNI fielding errors to score four unearned runs in the sixth inning to take a 7-5 lead.
UE’s lead would be short-lived, however, as the Panthers would erupt for six runs in the top of the seventh inning to take an 11-7 lead, highlighted by two-run doubles by catcher Jeff Taliaferro and first baseman Jason Summers. Evansville would not back down though, plating an unearned run in the seventh inning and another run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Fick to cut the UNI lead to 11-9. The Purple Aces would then rally for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to produce their first come-from-behind ninth-inning victory of the year.
Fick only had the one hit on the afternoon, but did drive in three runs in the contest. Acheson also drove in three runs and scored two more, as he went 3-for-4 with a double at the plate. Kuester, junior Andy Pascoe and freshman Trentt Copeland also had two-hit efforts for UE. Senior Mark Obenchain (2-1) earned the victory, scattering two runs on three hits in 2.2 innings on the mound.
For UNI, Taliaferro went a game-best 4-for-5 with a double and three RBI, while Summers knocked two doubles, scored two runs, and drove in two more. Outfielder Travis Bennett also drove in three runs in the contest.
With the victory, Evansville improves to 9-14 overall and 2-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Northern Iowa, meanwhile, drops to 10-13 overall and 2-4 in the Valley. Evansville will return to action on Tuesday, as the Purple Aces will travel to Cape Girardeau, Missouri to take on the Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks in a non-conference contest. First-pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.
